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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 7, 2016)
December 7, 2016 Page 7 Opinion articles do not necessarily represent the views of the Portland Observer. We welcome reader essays, photos and story ideas. Submit to news@portlandobserver.com. O PINION There Will Never be Another Fidel Castro Few were as controversial as Cuban leader h arry C. a lford Born (Aug. 13, 1926) out of wedlock on his father’s sugar- cane farm in the third world nation of Cuba, Fidel Castro grew up to attend and study law from the University of Havana. It wasn’t long before he became a radical and soon drifted into so- cialist rebellion. He participated in foreign re- bellions in the Dominican Repub- lic and Columbia. Courageous, he returned to Cuba to attack a mil- itary barracks. That landed him in prison for one year. With his brother, Raul, and close friend Che Guevara, he journeyed to Mexico to thoroughly form his revolution- ary agenda. It was called the 26th of July Movement. Landing by sea from Mexico in 1955 he formed an army and began revolution against the government of Cuba. by By 1959, he led the demise of dic- tator Fulgencio Battista. This was the beginning of Fidel Castro, the President of Cuba which became a socialist government. It wasn’t long before the world considered Cuba to be a Com- munist state. Fidel was ruth- less to his opposition. Thou- sands faced his firing squads. When he allowed a national election for the country, no opponents stepped forward. The United States considered this too close of a threat and sanc- tioned through the CIA to assassi- nate him. The dozens of attempts failed. He became increasingly intolerant. When President John Kennedy became equally intoler- ant of Fidel, he authorized an in- vasion made up of Cuban exiles from Florida and CIA agents. The invasion was a miserable failure. Countering these threats Fidel sold the Soviet Union on collab- orating with Cuba. Knowing the United States managed missiles in Turkey along the Soviet Union border, he convinced the Soviets to have payback by placing in- tercontinental missiles in Cuba, 90 miles from our Florida Coast. They both underestimated the resolve of President Kennedy. He demanded their removal and placed an embargo around Cuba. Eventually, the Soviets backed down and removed their missiles. By the way, the US removed their missiles from Turkey as a conces- sion. This made Fidel Castro one of the most feared leaders in the world. Through the help of the So- viet Army, the Cuban Army was trained as a fighting force. Fidel and Soviet Union’s became close allies and Cuba’s government was fully converted to a one-party, pro-socialist state under the Com- munist Party rule. The nation also began relationships with other communist states. Eventually, we would find out that Cuban military forces were going to various communist linked third world nations. Soviet leader Khrushchev kicked off the pro- gram with an official visit to Mos- cow by Fidel and then kicked off a 14-city tour. After that we would notice Cuban military in nations like Angola, Grenada, Ethiopia, Somalia, Algeria, Chile, North Vietnam, etc. With Soviet mon- ey Cuba was becoming a militant force in the Third World. Cuba even sent 4,000 troops to Libya to help fight in the Yom Kippur War against Israel. They even brought Viet Cong to Cuba for formal gue- rilla training. Soon this brazen program would end. The Soviet Union was going bankrupt! It formally reorganized itself and changed its name back to Russia and liberat- ed the seized states of the 1940’s. It also cut Cuba out of its budget. This was a very crippling blow to Castro’s Cuba. The attempted spread of communism via military activity would soon end. Castro would start steering Cuba towards humanitarian pro- grams. The famous medical de- livery program that Cuba touts started replacing tanks and troops. They have aided millions of sick people over the years and all over the world. Castro has even offered to send doctors to US impover- ished Mississippi Delta. The na- tion is 30 percent black but there is no sickle cell anemia. Every citizen gets a six-month physical exam. Their medical system is free. Cuba became equally proficient in infrastructure programs. They now build bridges, highways, hotels all over the world. I have seen Cuban contractors building a 5-star hotel in Paris. It is amazing! Fidel Castro stepped down as President in 2008. The last years were spent as a figure head while his brother Raul took the reigns as a virtual leader until his death. There are few individuals in mod- ern history that became as contro- versial as Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz. Love him or hate him, his in- fluence on our world was definite. After 90 years, there is no more Fidel Castro. I predict Cuba will become more capitalistic and at peace with the United States. My mentor, the late Arthur A. Fletcher predicted, “One day Cuba will become the Hong Kong of the Caribbean.” That appears to be happening. Harry C. Alford is the co-found- er and president of the National Black Chamber of Commerce. Fidel Castro: A Legend Loved and Loathed A towering figure of the 20th century M arC h. M orial Since the an- nouncement of his death, the signifi- cance and impact of Fidel Castro’s legacy has been subjected to heated and polarized debate. Castro’s admirers will rightly point to his unprecedented reforms in healthcare and education on the island-nation of Cuba—nearly eradicating illiteracy and reaching record lows in infant and maternal mortality rates—as the work of a leader devoted to the well-be- ing of his people. His detractors will rightly point to his denial of basic political freedoms and hu- man rights abuses—including suppressing free speech and the torture and executions of political opponents—as the work of a ruth- less dictator concerned only with power and its preservation. Whether history will ultimate- ly absolve or condemn this man, it is clear that Castro was a tow- by ering figure of the 20th century. His place in the pages of history is secured and his political and social justice influence in Cuba, the Caribbean, Latin America, Africa and beyond, can neither be denied nor—for better or worse—forgotten. The course of Cuban and world history changed forever in 1959 as Castro, thronged by rebel fighters and cheered on by the Cuban people, rode into Havana af- ter overthrowing the brutal military dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista. During his 49-year reign, Castro oversaw dramatic changes in Cuban society. With his rev- olution came important accom- plishments and advances in racial equality, housing, education and healthcare for Cubans—but the revolution did not stop at Cuba’s borders. Castro exported his rev- olution and Cuba’s material and intellectual resources to other parts of the world—injecting it- self into the world’s disasters, emergencies and conflicts. Shortly following his release after 27 years spent in jail as a po- litical prisoner, Nelson Mandela made a trip to Havana to express his gratitude to Castro. Cuba un- der Castro opposed apartheid and supported the African National Congress, Mandela’s political organization. Cuba was the only country in the world to send sol- diers to fight in the anti-apart- heid struggle. In stark contrast, the United States supported the South African apartheid govern- ment, placing Nelson Mandela and the ANC on a terrorist watch list until 2008; refused to im- pose sanctions on the apartheid regime; and in 1986, President Reagan vetoed the Anti-Apart- heid Act. At the time, I was a leader in New Orleans of the Free South Africa movement that advocat- ed for comprehensive economic sanctions and succeeded in lob- bying Congress to override Presi- dent Reagan’s veto. It is no wonder that Mande- la described Castro’s revolution as “a source of inspiration to all freedom-loving people.” Cuba was an ally in many African in- dependence movements and, de- spite its country’s poverty and U.S. backed sanctions, managed to provide resources, including doctors and teachers, to poor countries in need. Castro’s revolution also failed in many respects. His strides in social policy were woefully un- matched in the political arena. Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty Internation- al, described Castro as “a pro- gressive but deeply flawed lead- er.” Human rights were trampled under his leadership. Early-revo- lution promises of free elections were never kept; free speech was, and continues to be, suppressed; political opponents were execut- ed; and thousands were jailed or forced into exile. Castro erased illiteracy and tuberculosis in Cuba—an unat- tainable feat in better-resourced nations. But, Castro summarily denied the people of Cuba their basic political and human rights. That is the paradox of Fidel Cas- tro—a paradox that can, and will, teach us all valuable lessons for decades to come. Marc H. Morial is president and chief executive officer of the National Urban League.
